“Take it slow. Don’t fall by rushing unnecessarily.”
“Oops, it’s cold!”
As soon as the words were spoken, Hye Ju staggered in fear.
Watching Hye Ju run away, soaked from stepping into a puddle, Ju Won burst into laughter.
The image of her clumsily covering her head with an unfolded umbrella and running away became an afterimage.
A week had passed.
On a night with bright streetlights, Ju Won stood in front of the company building.
As soon as he returned from Sinwol Island, he came to the company because he suddenly had a business trip scheduled.
“It’s past 10 o’clock, why aren’t you leaving work?”
He glanced briefly at his wristwatch.
The attendance system of Data’s Korea was turned on his phone.
If Hye Ju’s seat was still glowing green, it meant she hadn’t tagged out and was still at the company.
Ju Won looked up at the building, pressing his tired eyes.
“This damn company. They should either completely eliminate overtime or something, really.”
Ju Won had planned to meet Hye Ju today.
Even in the midst of his busy schedule after returning from Sinwol Island, he had thought about it all along. It felt like there was something between us that needed to be resolved.
Perhaps it was just his own delusion. But even if it was a delusion, he had to confirm it at least once.
Did she also feel the mystery between us? And if she did, did she have the desire to solve it?
He hadn’t planned to drag it out for a week, but suddenly having a business trip threw everything off. Even though they didn’t usually exchange personal messages, if they had met at the company, there would have been a chance to talk. But now, with things like this, contacting her felt awkward.
“…It feels strange. This kind of feeling.”
Even the great Kang Ju Won was feeling nervous.
When he was about to enter, he was trembling so much that Ju Won took several deep breaths.
“Phew.”
There was an old saying that had never been wrong.
Should I kiss?
The feeling when he thought the same words in his mind and when he actually said them out loud was quite different.
How should he put it? It felt like all the emotions that hadn’t been organized were suddenly sorted out.
The fragments of emotions that had been floating in my mind became tangible the moment they escaped my lips. The times I thought of her, smiled, and wondered all converged like intensified beams under a magnifying glass.
Ju Won knew. It was dismissed as a joke, but it was never just a joke.
His feelings for Hye Ju had suddenly taken on a clear resolution.
“Kiss… I almost did it.”
If she hadn’t covered her mouth and laughed.
Crazy!
He scolded himself with a bewildered look, but if he hadn’t, he might have done something reckless.
Ju Won recalled a memory from ten years ago. He laughed as he followed the back of the girl who threw him a pepero and ran away.
Why did he collide with a perfectly fine street lamp? It was amusing how he hurriedly put on his shoes to help her, as if nothing had happened, while she dashed away, like a meerkat scanning her surroundings.
He had met that girl again in front of the academy back then. She was petite, but her eyes were so round and cute, like a cartoon character.
Once, he grabbed her just as she tried to sneak away.
Don’t you have something to say to me?
I’m sorry.
Not that kind of thing.
He had so many questions he wanted to ask. Why did she give him the pepero? When did she start having those feelings? What did she like about him?
And yet, there was one thing he hoped for.
That she liked him.
Yes, he expected to hear those words.
But Hye Ju repeated the same phrase like a parrot.
I’m sorry. Did receiving the pepero suddenly make you uncomfortable? It wasn’t intentional. But since the pepero is innocent, don’t just throw it away… Give it to Seung Won, give it to Seung Won. He likes them.
I couldn’t understand why she thought I would be displeased when I hadn’t properly confessed my feelings.
“I’ll take care of my own pepero.”
“I was worried you might throw it away.”
“…”
“Then, can I go?”
I couldn’t stop her, trembling like a mouse in front of a cat. At that time, Ju Won was just a nineteenyearold boy, so he didn’t have the courage to hold onto her as she left.
“Sure, go ahead.”
If he had held onto her back then, would something have changed?
Looking back, it seemed like there was definitely a liking between them.
It was an emotion like a tiny seed that didn’t amount to much in Ju Won’s life. If he had consistently watered it and bathed it in sunlight, maybe things would have turned out differently.
However, Ju Won didn’t have that time.
Before he could truly examine his own feelings, Won Hye Rim took her own life.
Ju Won left for studying abroad the following year, and Hye Ju’s incident faded away as a minor happening in the recesses of his memory.
But fate, like a prankster, brought the two of them together again. Hye Ju, who appeared with smooth skin and a slightly prettier appearance, was as cute and sloppy as she was ten years ago. When he looked at her, it felt like he could loosen the tie that had been choking him all day, and his breath would catch.
He found himself smiling and wanting to see her more and more. Ju Won realized that he had been searching for her like a habit.
The reason why he was so curious about her feelings was because his own feelings had already been decided.
He wanted to ask if she felt the same way as him.
If her heart also raced like mine.
If she also couldn’t stop thinking about me, like I do about her.
A few months ago, Hye Ju declared that she closed her heart. When Ju Won heard that, the first emotion he felt was relief. It wasn’t that he was relieved that she closed her heart, but rather that it confirmed that her heart had once been with him, even if only for a moment, and that made him happy.
“So, it’s true that you liked me. If you’re really sincere, can you reconsider once?”
However, unbelievably, Hye Ju was unyielding.
How should I interpret a woman who never meets my gaze even once while my eyes linger on her? It’s not like a person’s heart folds like a piece of paper, so why are you like this? Why don’t you budge even once?
Like back then when she hugged me tightly and never came to see me, I was confused, but recently, I had such thoughts.
Maybe it wasn’t that she closed her heart, but that she never had the intention to close it from the beginning.
I don’t know why she lied, but if she never had feelings for me from the start…
“Well, what about it? We can start fresh and clean from the beginning.”
When I came to that conclusion, I felt oddly at ease.
If there were no feelings from the start, then I can make you like me.
If you don’t know my heart, I’ll let you know.
So, Oh Hye Ju, just wait there.
Ju Won glanced at his watch.
“Let’s go, Kang Ju Won.”
Brother, I’m going to confess right now.
lu lu lo la ▪️ net (lululola.net)
The Villainous Demon Lord Laid an Egg for Her (Female-Dominated)
Several months after transmigrating into a book, Yu Wu found herself facing the demon lord Li You, who could no longer conceal his dragon horns. With one hand on her aching waist and the other gripping a sharp sword, she stared at him.
The demon lord’s eyes were red with fury:
“This is all your doing! Today, I won’t rest until I kill you!”
Yu Wu rubbed her temples. Putting aside the taboo against bloodshed during pregnancy, wasn’t it this very man who willingly walked into her trap that day?!
Warnings:
- Male pregnancy.
- Height ratios are set to mirror typical male-female height proportions.
- Characters include a foot-loving demon lord and an eldest daughter from an immortal family’s concubine lineage.
